Political analyst says not surprised Ryan stepping down

Dr. Carl Palmer is an associate professor of politics and government at Illinois State University. (Photo courtesy Illinois State University)

By Greg Halbleib

NORMAL – A political analyst at Illinois State University says he’s not surprised that House Speaker Paul Ryan has announced he won’t run for another term in Congress.

Dr. Carl Palmer, an assistant professor of politcs and government, said Ryan appeared to accept the leadership role to try to achieve some policy goals.

“I never felt that Speaker Ryan actually wanted the job,” Palmer told WJBC’s Sam Wood. “If you think back to 2 1/2 years ago when Speaker Boehner resigned, it took Republicans four or five tries to get Ryan to accept the job.”

Palmer speculates that the lack of legislative success and the prospects of a difficult election year for Republicans pushed Ryan to step away.

“Even if he held his seat, he’d be facing an entirely different Congress,” Palmer added, “and that would make it much more difficult for him to achieve anything.”